Sept. 7 Preaching the Gospel 3 by 3

I was a little intimidated to be in a trio but I'm pretty sure Sister > Tanner couldn't have come on a better week. Heavenly Father loves this > girl as do Sister Reid and I. She's a bit more put together than we > are so she keeps us in line. We are slowly bringing out her silly > self. Our lessons are full of lots of silences as we stare at her to > say something but she's getting the hang of it way faster than I did!! > I'm a proud mama. > > On Monday night we drove to Wilcox then Tuesday morning we drove to > Tucson to pick up cute Sister Tanner. It was so fun to see almost all > of my past companions and some mission buddies. I love these people!! > We drove home as fast as our tiwi (car monitor) would allow. We got > there just in time to grab a handful of food and run to a lesson with > Christine. She is flawless!! We got to teach her 3 times this week. We > had a lesson Saturday and forgot to warn her about testimony meeting. > We sent her a quick text Saturday night warning her that church would > be a little bit different this week. We got to 3rd ward sacrament > meeting a little late because only 5 members showed up to ysa which > means they needed a little more help (holiday weekends are rough). We > sat 2 rows behind Christine and the lantz's. Within 2 testimonies > sister Lantz and Christine we're bringing out the tissues. I watched > as Christine nodded her head more and more with every testimony. > > When the meeting ended we ran to them. Christine gave us huge hugs and > said "that was the most powerful thing I've ever felt." She told us > that brother Lantz had explained fasting to her and she had come to > church fasting for her answer. It came as clear as can be! Christine > is ready to be baptized and nothing is stopping her now! It really > strengthened my testimony of sincere fasting. I had prayed that > morning to receive help strengthening my testimony of fasting. > Heavenly Father works in incredible ways. > > I also had MLC this week. Sister Tanner and Reid dropped me off in > Wilcox Thursday night and sister Thomas and I drove to Tucson > together. You know your companions love you when they are willing to > drive 4 hours 2 days in a row just to pick you up and drop you off! > MLC was mostly about going digital with our area books. That means > we'll be spending a hardy chunk of time copying teaching records. > Woof!! The first time was at the end of a long day where we were > running from appointment to appointment. We didn't have time for a > dinner break so we grabbed some burritos to go and headed for Wilcox. > The burritos were SUPER spicy and we all were out of water so we spend > the whole ride breathing really hard but still eating because we were > starving. I couldn't stop laughing as our noses started to run and we > breathed as hard as we could. Moments like that are the greatest! I've > loved this week of adventures! > > All three of us are working our hardest and trying to be exactly > obedient. We are seeing answers to prayers left and right. I'm > grateful to be training. It's taken me back to the basics and reminded > me to be patient and slow down sometimes. I've never been good at > taking breathers. I'm working on it day by day. Thank you for all > you've done for me. Thank you for the prayers. They are much needed > and much appreciated. I love everything about missionary life. I love > my companions. I live my savior Jesus Christ and I know we can do all > things through him. Otherwise this work wouldn't be possible. Keep it > real in the 801. I love you from salt lake To silver city and back! > > -Sister Barton Love these girls! Silver city isn't going to know what to do with us! Sister Werner taught us how to make apple sauce! We spent Wednesday morning picking buckets and buckets of apples off her huge tree. Spicy burritos to go!! My mouth is still tingling The call family :) they are the best!

Aug. 31 Pray always that ye shall not faint?

I can't begin to express how excited we are about this new transfer. > Our transfer phone call was expected but nobody predicted this one! > Sister Reid and I will be staying in Silver City and we pick up our > baby tomorrow morning! We'll be training in a trio!! PERFECTION TO THE > MAX! It took forever to figure out how to get 3 beds to fit into our > tiny bedroom but eventually we figured it out! Our apartment is > officially "baby/trio proofed" :). The joke of the branch is that the > sister missionaries are having a baby before anyone else. Everyone is > pretty excited to meet the new Sister. > > This week we went on exchanges. I love teaching with Sister Hubert and > learning from her. The biggest miracle of the exchange was talking to > a random woman on a bench. Sharae is a young mom that was actually > supposed to be set up to meet with elders a few months ago. It never > happened but she has wanted to learn more ever since. She thought she > had to be baptized before coming to church. Where do people get these > crazy ideas?!? She's super prepared and we can't wait to start > teaching her. > On exchanges we were also able to have a fantastic lesson with Mari > about the temple. She already knows about baptisms and all that but > this time we talked to her about D&C 95:8. Being endowed with power. > She is scared to death to stand alone without her families support. > It's neat to watch her eyes open on the fact that there are so many > unseen family members rooting her on. We started her up on genealogy > and she is so excited to take her moms name to the temple. > > On Friday we were about to start teaching the Lantz family about the > commandments. The. The spirit told is not to two seconds before > entering their mobile home. (I don't like it when that happens). We > walked in having no clue what to say. One thing I've learned is if you > don't know what to say you better testify about the atonement and our > savior, Jesus Christ. We read 2 Nephi 33 and testified of the > atonement. The spirit was powerful and we left with grateful hearts. > The atonement has never let me down!! Seeing that family at church is > always the best part of my week. After sacrament meeting Sister Lantz > gave me a huge hug and said that you. The meeting was on the temple > and Sister Lantz knows that the temple is exactly where her family is > finally headed. Pure joy!! > > Between old men slipping us "Emergency money" underneath the table at > breakfast, sister lundall repeatedly trying to train us how to be > wives, completely failing at jeopardy at ysa activities, testifying > over and over again about the atonement, rearranging our whole > apartment to fit another sister, and teaching sunbeams about being > thankful, it's been a fantastic week. I couldn't be more grateful for > another transfer here! > > I know I have more stories but I'm feeling too lazy to keep writing so > mom you can read my journal later! > > I know that the only reason I got through this week because of many > prayers and Devine help!! I always say I'm exhausted then another week > goes by and I'm shocked I haven't plopped over yet. Pray must be real > or something!!! I love this work! I love my Heavenly Father. I love > being a missionary! Thank you for everything! Keep it real in the 801 > :D I'm praying for ya'll. > > Sister Barton

Aug. 24 WE ARE HIS HANDS

Hello!! It's been a nice time in New Mexico this week! Lots of curve > balls, lots of lessons learned, and lots of humbling experiences.. > > Highlights of the week: > > As soon as we got to this area, 3 months ago, we started praying to > find a family of 12. Every day since then I've prayed and prayed for > this family. We were picturing 10 kids and 2 loving parents that > didn't know anything about the gospel but would be ready for truth. As > we taught the Lantz family this week, I looked around and counted 2 > less active grandparents, their 3 less active daughters, 3 nonmember > son-in-laws, and 6 nonmember grandchildren, and 1 nonmember > sister/aunt. I was truly humbled. The lesson was pretty much stadium > seating in this tiny Mobil home in the boonies of New Mexico. > Christine is going strong. She texts us everyday asking us questions > about the Isaiah chapters. Woof! Avery (one of the grandsons) loves > running home from school to learn more about the "Book of Norman". All > during church he gives up thumbs ups and takes all the credit for > waking his family up to get them to church. After sacrament meeting > Sister Lantz (grandma) got a little teary eyed as she thanked us for > helping her family. I love them with all my heart!!! > > Mari had been really struggling to progress. We played the guilt game > and wouldn't teach her the lessons we planned if she didn't read the > Book of Mormon on her own. She came into Friday night activity with > huge eyes repeatedly saying "I didn't see that coming. He really > chopped off this head?!?" We were pretty proud. She hasn't put the > book down since. On Saturday she was still struggling with recognizing > her answers if the Book of Mormon was true or not. She said she thinks > her fear of disappointing her anti-Mormon family by getting baptized. > All of a sudden the spirit hit us as we testified about her future > family and how the gospel will effect them. How standing alone right > now will lead to blessing so many more to come after her. Mari had a > breakthrough. The spirit was strong as she recognized that she knows > it's true and she's ready to be the example. We set a date with her > and it's been smooth sailing since :) > > During Sunday school a family in our ward received the news that their > house caught fire and everything was completely destroyed. That > evening we went to our dinner appointment to find the Bloomfield > family had opened their house to the family. During dinner the parents > were at the house with the fire Marshall. The doorbell was going nuts > the whole time! Members continually came over dropping off bags and > bags of clothes, toiletries, school supplies, shoes, money, food, etc. > We helped organize everything. When the schnedblies got back I > couldn't believe how strong and calm they were. Sister schnebly sobbed > as she found the donations waiting for her in the living room. This > family has just lost everything. Within 2 hours the ward had collected > over 1,200 dollars and SO MUCH MORE. They told us that everything was > gone except for one closet that had their temple clothes, passports, > vistas, and birth certificates. Somehow the closet was completely > untouched. Devine protection! > > This morning I read a talk called "you are his hands". Elder Uchtdorf > stated, "Christ did not just speak about love; He showed it each day > of His life. He did not remove Himself from the crowd. Being amidst > the people, Jesus reached out to the one. He rescued the lost. He > didn’t just teach a class about reaching out in love and then delegate > the actual work to others. He not only taught but also showed us how > to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen > the feeble knees.” Christ knows how to minister to others perfectly. > When the Savior stretches out His hands, those He touches are uplifted > and become greater, stronger, and better people as a result. If we > are His hands, should we not do the same?" Watching the ward come > together to help the schnebly family was an incredible experience that > I am grateful for. They truly embody the character and love of Jesus > Christ. That's what this gospel is all about. It's about love. It's > about being his hands. > > As of this very second we have set 4 baptismal dates for next month. I > pray that I'll be able to stay here one more transfer to witness Mari, > Christine, yesenia, and Ramon choose joy and enter the waters of > baptism. I know that's not up to me but I feel blessed to have been > able to teach these 4 individuals about how much they are loved and > valued. We've been able to truly see miraculous conversions with each > of them. > > Thank you for all you do. I love you and am excited to hear about all > that's going on in the 801! I'm stoked we are getting another addition > to the Barton family. The boys are going to be even more outnumbered > :) congrats Michael and Rina! > > -Sister Barton

Aug. 17 #blessed

Family!!! Hola! Let me tell you about my fantastic week! Turn with me to doctrine and covenants 58:1-6. We tried really hard to be faithful in tribulation because that glory was desired! We worked super hard to serve the auxiliaries and find people to teach. It was nuts! I've never been so happy for a new school year to start before. All the young single adults are coming back, and our little YSA branch isn't so sad anymore. There are also investigators returning back to town, including Mari, who we have already taught a few times. She knows so much about the gospel and loves coming to church and different activities! She knows the gospel is true, she just needs to take that leap of faith and accept baptism. :) Her family isn't supportive and that's really rough on her. Pray for Mari! We got to teach the Lantz family the restoration twice this week. The first time was just with Christine and sister Lantz. At the end of the lesson brother Lantz brings in his nephews Kenny and Chance. The first thing Kenny said was, "Hey ladies what's the word you've got for us. We want to know all about it." We went back the next day and taught them! This time Christine pretty much taught them! Music to our ears! She has such a solid understanding of the gospel. She's the best! During the middle of that lesson sister Lantz grandson walked in and said "sorry I'm late! I ran home from school as fast as I could." He was beaming as he showed us his super old and broken bible. He was ready to learn! We have been trying to work with a recent convert family that are super less active. They went to church twice after getting baptized and haven't been back in a year. They keep telling us they will come and never do because on Sunday's somehow one of them is always sick. Time to bring out the big guns. On Saturday the relief society helped kill them with kindness. We got out our buckets and scrubbed down the house. No more getting sick! Seeing them walk into church on Sunday was priceless!!! Here comes the glory part :) On Sunday we left ysa branch council early to wake up the semi active students. We went from house to house knocking up a storm. It was awesome. Every time they opened the door wrapped like a burrito and completely confused. We asked them to get dressed and meet us at church. Mama Barton and Reid at their finest. By the time we got back to the institute the chapel was a little more populated with sleepy students. HEAVEN! We left ysa early to get to 3rd ward choir practice. Right as practice was ending we saw Sister Lantz walk in.....followed by Christine, Kenny, chance, her less active daughters, and 4 of her nonmember grandsons. THE HEAVENS OPENED!! They filled an entire row! I've never felt so much joy. We were still practicing so we couldn't go talk to them but we watched as everyone went up and talked to them. Sister Lantz was glowing! Choir finally ended. As we walked to sit by them our 5 year old friend Simon grabbed my arm and handed me 2 HUGE cookies. Nailed it! The speakers happen to be the stake mission leader and recently returning member. They talked about letting the light of Christ shine within us. YES. TOO BEAUTIFUL. This is what I call glory. Christine has committed to being baptized on September 26th. I can't wait to watch her continue to grow. This woman is so prepared to be part of the restored gospel. She's been searching her whole life for truth. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father led us to her. This week my testimony of obedience grew. Obedience brings blessings. It's that simple. If you want. Blessings then be obedient. God did make it complicated. I am so grateful to be serving with such an obedience companion. We have been able to see so many miracles in this "dead area" (no such thing). We love it here. I love everything about this quirky place. I feel so blessed to be here. Thank you so all ya'll do. I love you! -Sister Barton.

Aug. 3 This is crunchy and this smells good!

It has been pretty chill these last seven days, but it ended with a fantastic miracle yesterday. We've started teaching a family of a mom and four girls (7,8,11,and 13 years old)! We haven't met the dad and they said he wasn't interested in participating but hopefully we can change that. :) Last Sunday were trying less actives in a little suburb/town that we hadn't been to yet. We went and tried this less active couple that we haven't met before and nobody knows who they are. We knocked and they weren't home. As we were about to move onto the next address we noticed there was a trailer back behind the house. Then we noticed this teenage girl peeking her head out the front door. We talked to her for a little bit and asked if we could come teach her family about Jesus Christ. She was like yeah, let me go ask my mom real quick! She came back a minute later and said her mom was cool with it, and that we should come back next Sunday. We went back yesterday half expecting them to not be there. (That happens a lot) As soon as we pulled up they were at the door ready to welcome us in!!!! We taught them about the restoration and they are excited to read the Book of Mormon. They said they had never even prayed as a family before! None of the girls had really been taught how to pray or who God is. Teaching them was sooooo fun! We already love them so much! They have never met with missionaries before and basically know little to nothing about religion, so we are starting from square one with them. :) We took a little trip to Tucson this week for leadership training. I have always loved road trips so the trip from Silver City to Tucson with Sister Reid is always a good time. A sleepover at the Passey's home is a cherry on top! I love Tucson. Being able to be part of MLC is the best! I feel so lucky to get to be trained once a month on how to be a better missionary by the leaders of our mission. I always leave MLC with a whole new fire. Ready to get back to the area and work that much harder! This week I've been focusing a lot on developing humility and patience. Patience in the Lord, in other missionaries, in the area, in our investigators, and in myself! Pretty much in every way! I came across a talk called Continue in Patience by Elder Uchtdorf (He's the bomb). "Patience in a process of perfection." I'm not really sure what that means yet but I'm going to figure it out! Patients is something that I've never really had a whole lot of so that's the goal this next month. If any of you have some extra personal study time I highly recommend that talk. It's super good. I am so grateful for YOU and all the support and love you show me. I could never be grateful enough for you people who have helped me through the ups and downs and motivated me to always try a little bit harder and be a little bit better. We came home from Tucson so find a jar of peanut butter and a candle on our doorstep! It was SUPER random but hey we appreciated it! We then opened our mailbox to find Sister Reid and I both had letters from our mamas. Somehow we are always getting spoiled around here. I am so grateful for everyone that has shown me so much support and love this past year. It's been an incredible adventure! Please stay safe and stay cool in this heat. Love, Sister Barton

July 27- Is it still wonderful to you??

This week was a little rough in the fact that a lot of our investigators have kind of dropped off the face of the planet and won't work out times to meet with us despite our numerous attempts. But we have two solid investigators that we met with a lot this week! The first is Yecenia, who is 9 years old and part of a family who are members but semi-less active. They are a family with five girls with one on the way, so the house is always crazy wild every time we go over there, but it is a lot of fun. They've been coming to church more and we hope that they can make it a lasting commitment. We also have a new investigator Ramone! He is a friend of a member in our YSA branch, and she's been bringing him to church! He has been really receptive to the lessons and enjoys reading the Book of Mormon! We are excited to see how he progresses. He's another one of those with a rough past that just wants to change to be better. He believes in God but doesn't know what to do with that faith. It's fun to watch him get excited about the gospel. This Sunday was pretty crazy. We walked into institute to find that we were teaching Sunday school. Right after our lesson we ran to catch the last our of third ward to find the relief society teacher didn't show up.....that means it's our job! During the opening hymn we read the talk "Is it still wonderful to you?". After the hymn I looked over to find Sister Reid had marked the exact same paragraphs. In the talk, bishop causse tells a story about a girl who walked to church when her car broke down. The women all agreed that it's important to get to church. We turned it around and asked if we would do the same thing for visiting teaching, for scripture study, for fhe, for service, for family history, for family dinner. Are we going out of our way to do the things that we have been asked to do?? The spirit really changed and the visiting teacher supervisor was cheering us on/pumping her fist in the back of the room! I love teaching! > I've got a few funny/random/awkward stories of the week I thought I'd > share. A little background info: I have made a goal to stay away from > sugar. At dinner appointments I'm always too full for dessert anyway. > Usually people don't get offended when I say I'm too full, sometimes I > ask to take it to go and let Sister Reid have it later. This week we > ate at this old single lady's house. After we finished eating, she > asked if we wanted strawberries for dessert. I, of course, said yes > because it is just strawberries, right? Well....this member fixes up > the bowls and it ends up being 2 strawberries on top of a Twinkie. She > tricked us! Go figure. Twinkies have always kinda freaked me out (no > expiration date. How is that possible?!?) I was debating what to do. > Lo and behold, the member has to go in the back room real quick to > grab something. I told you Heavenly Father answers prayers! As soon as > she left the room I started begging Sister Reid to eat my Twinkie. She > refused many times but after a few seconds she gave in. We heard the > member coming back right when we were in the process of sliding our > bowls across the huge table to each other. When Sister Reid got her > bowl full of twinkles back the member was half way in the room and so > she had to scarf it down one of the twinkies to hide the evidence > before the member returned. It was so hard to not burst into laughter. > > Next pretty funny story. Our relief society president and ward mission > leader and the cutest couple ever! He's a recent convert and they are > both just kind cooky. We had a meeting with them on Friday. Sister > Griswold was so excited to tell us about her brilliant missionary > idea.."I've decided we need to think of a way to tell people that the > FULL restored gospel is on the earth. People have some truth but we > have ALL TRUTH!!" She told us to think about some ideas on how to get > the word out and let them know....we spent the rest of the day quoting > sister griswold. Why didn't we think of that?!? Missionaries should > really start teaching people about the restoration...hmmmm > > A few fun facts about Silver City: there are many a times where there > is no house numbers on homes, and if there are, then they are > completely hidden or faded away. There are also usually no doorbells. > We have to debate which door is the front or the back on 90% of the > homes we knock on because they are mostly Mobil homes that are > sideways! A lot of businesses are closed random hours during the day, > and most of them aren't open on Mondays. I'm starting to think maybe > their sabbath day in on Mondays! This town is so weird. A lot of > people aren't used to Sister Missionaries. Somehow Sister Reid is > called elder at least 5 times a week. Her face every time is > priceless!!! I love the small little moments that make everything > great. We spent all of Friday night activity at the institute laughing > and laughing. These people are becoming my New Mexico family more and > more every day. :) > > I love this gospel. I love this quirky place. The church is true. The > Book of Mormon is the word of God. It's that simple. > > Thank you for all you do :) I love you. > > People keep saying they don't really know what to write me/what I want > to hear about-- I wanna hear about your missionary experiences, > pictures of my nieces, testimonies, brilliant words of encouragement > and advice, and miracles you saw in the week. Have a good week!! > > -Sister Barton